diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 465eb13e76..e669003f72 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ apply.whitespace::
 	Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
 	as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
 
+pager.color::
+	A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
+	use (default is true).
+
 diff.color::
 	When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
 	When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `auto`, use
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index 7310a2b8b8..d24388368e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -627,6 +627,9 @@ git Diffs
 
 other
 ~~~~~
+'GIT_PAGER'::
+	This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`.
+
 'GIT_TRACE'::
 	If this variable is set git will print `trace:` messages on
 	stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command
diff --git a/builtin-log.c b/builtin-log.c
index 82c69d1d05..bba1496bf2 100644
--- a/builtin-log.c
+++ b/builtin-log.c
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ static int cmd_log_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
 	struct commit *commit;
 
 	prepare_revision_walk(rev);
-	setup_pager();
 	while ((commit = get_revision(rev)) != NULL) {
 		log_tree_commit(rev, commit);
 		free(commit->buffer);
diff --git a/builtin-ls-files.c b/builtin-ls-files.c
index 79ffe8f423..11386c432b 100644
--- a/builtin-ls-files.c
+++ b/builtin-ls-files.c
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ static int show_valid_bit = 0;
 static int line_terminator = '\n';
 
 static int prefix_len = 0, prefix_offset = 0;
-static const char *prefix = NULL;
 static const char **pathspec = NULL;
 static int error_unmatch = 0;
 static char *ps_matched = NULL;
@@ -207,7 +206,7 @@ static void show_ce_entry(const char *tag, struct cache_entry *ce)
 	}
 }
 
-static void show_files(struct dir_struct *dir)
+static void show_files(struct dir_struct *dir, const char *prefix)
 {
 	int i;
 
@@ -253,7 +252,7 @@ static void show_files(struct dir_struct *dir)
 /*
  * Prune the index to only contain stuff starting with "prefix"
  */
-static void prune_cache(void)
+static void prune_cache(const char *prefix)
 {
 	int pos = cache_name_pos(prefix, prefix_len);
 	unsigned int first, last;
@@ -276,7 +275,7 @@ static void prune_cache(void)
 	active_nr = last;
 }
 
-static void verify_pathspec(void)
+static const char *verify_pathspec(const char *prefix)
 {
 	const char **p, *n, *prev;
 	char *real_prefix;
@@ -313,7 +312,7 @@ static void verify_pathspec(void)
 		memcpy(real_prefix, prev, max);
 		real_prefix[max] = 0;
 	}
-	prefix = real_prefix;
+	return real_prefix;
 }
 
 static const char ls_files_usage[] =
@@ -453,7 +452,7 @@ int cmd_ls_files(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	/* Verify that the pathspec matches the prefix */
 	if (pathspec)
-		verify_pathspec();
+		prefix = verify_pathspec(prefix);
 
 	/* Treat unmatching pathspec elements as errors */
 	if (pathspec && error_unmatch) {
@@ -476,8 +475,8 @@ int cmd_ls_files(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	read_cache();
 	if (prefix)
-		prune_cache();
-	show_files(&dir);
+		prune_cache(prefix);
+	show_files(&dir, prefix);
 
 	if (ps_matched) {
 		/* We need to make sure all pathspec matched otherwise
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 88910734c0..913be6ae00 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@ extern int receive_keep_pack(int fd[2], const char *me, int quiet, int);
 /* pager.c */
 extern void setup_pager(void);
 extern int pager_in_use;
+extern int pager_use_color;
 
 /* base85 */
 int decode_85(char *dst, char *line, int linelen);
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 0ac6aebbbc..82b3562454 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -309,6 +309,11 @@ int git_default_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "pager.color")) {
+		pager_use_color = git_config_bool(var,value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	/* Add other config variables here and to Documentation/config.txt. */
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 6198a61cf3..16d47bf916 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ int git_diff_ui_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 			diff_use_color_default = 1; /* bool */
 		else if (!strcasecmp(value, "auto")) {
 			diff_use_color_default = 0;
-			if (isatty(1) || pager_in_use) {
+			if (isatty(1) || (pager_in_use && pager_use_color)) {
 				char *term = getenv("TERM");
 				if (term && strcmp(term, "dumb"))
 					diff_use_color_default = 1;
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 558801ad00..1ce34118dd 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ int shared_repository = PERM_UMASK;
 const char *apply_default_whitespace = NULL;
 int zlib_compression_level = Z_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION;
 int pager_in_use;
+int pager_use_color = 1;
 
 static int dyn_git_object_dir, dyn_git_index_file, dyn_git_graft_file;
 static char *git_dir, *git_object_dir, *git_index_file, *git_refs_dir,
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 7321d6c3f6..d031eb9a18 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ static int handle_alias(int *argcp, const char ***argv)
 const char git_version_string[] = GIT_VERSION;
 
 #define NEEDS_PREFIX 1
+#define USE_PAGER 2
 
 static void handle_internal_command(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 {
@@ -218,13 +219,13 @@ static void handle_internal_command(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 	static struct cmd_struct {
 		const char *cmd;
 		int (*fn)(int, const char **, const char *);
-		int prefix;
+		int option;
 	} commands[] = {
 		{ "version", cmd_version },
 		{ "help", cmd_help },
-		{ "log", cmd_log, NEEDS_PREFIX },
-		{ "whatchanged", cmd_whatchanged, NEEDS_PREFIX },
-		{ "show", cmd_show, NEEDS_PREFIX },
+		{ "log", cmd_log, NEEDS_PREFIX | USE_PAGER },
+		{ "whatchanged", cmd_whatchanged, NEEDS_PREFIX | USE_PAGER },
+		{ "show", cmd_show, NEEDS_PREFIX | USE_PAGER },
 		{ "push", cmd_push },
 		{ "format-patch", cmd_format_patch, NEEDS_PREFIX },
 		{ "count-objects", cmd_count_objects },
@@ -275,8 +276,10 @@ static void handle_internal_command(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 			continue;
 
 		prefix = NULL;
-		if (p->prefix)
+		if (p->option & NEEDS_PREFIX)
 			prefix = setup_git_directory();
+		if (p->option & USE_PAGER)
+			setup_pager();
 		if (getenv("GIT_TRACE")) {
 			int i;
 			fprintf(stderr, "trace: built-in: git");
diff --git a/pager.c b/pager.c
index 280f57f796..dcb398da8e 100644
--- a/pager.c
+++ b/pager.c
@@ -15,10 +15,12 @@ void setup_pager(void)
 {
 	pid_t pid;
 	int fd[2];
-	const char *pager = getenv("PAGER");
+	const char *pager = getenv("GIT_PAGER");
 
 	if (!isatty(1))
 		return;
+	if (!pager)
+		pager = getenv("PAGER");
 	if (!pager)
 		pager = "less";
 	else if (!*pager || !strcmp(pager, "cat"))
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index c375e912a9..20c8d32b1d 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ static int ce_compare_data(struct cache_entry *ce, struct stat *st)
 		unsigned char sha1[20];
 		if (!index_fd(sha1, fd, st, 0, NULL))
 			match = memcmp(sha1, ce->sha1, 20);
-		close(fd);
+		/* index_fd() closed the file descriptor already */
 	}
 	return match;
 }